"Aladdin," the most frenetic and cartoonish of Disney's screen-to-stage musicals, officially opened its first national tour in Chicago at the Cadillac Palace Theatre. And Adam Jacobs, his gleaming white teeth, his charming costar Isabelle McCalla as Princess Jasmine and the rest have all acquired a little more attention to veracity and Broadway chops since this show's first turn on the rialto. The new "Aladdin" crew is committed and fun, which you would expect, but they also bring more emotional depth to a show naturally inclined to remain in the shallow end of the pool. You can't beat catching a first-class Equity tour right at the start. Through Sept. 10 at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St.; $44-$153 at 800-775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com

George Gershwin's 1928 symphonic tone poem "An American in Paris" was intended to convey the sensory experience of a Stateside visitor walking through the French capital. A tourist who gets homesick. The "American in Paris" currently in Chicago is the touring company of the 2015 Broadway show, based on that work as well as the 1951 movie. Gershwin's music flows out from the stage in great and beauteous waves. Jerry is played by McGee Maddox as an all-American GI; the French ballet star Lise is played by Sara Esty, a beautiful, muscular dancer. In essence, director and choreographer Christopher Wheeldon expresses the sexual and power-based tension in this story through dance. Through Aug. 13 at the Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph St.; $27-$103 at 800-775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com

Michael Perlman's play "At the Table" is full of hyper-articulate characters (gay, straight, white, black, Asian, feminist) who gather for a weekend to drink and talk frankly with one another. Good luck with that. This hyper-realistic staging from director Spenser Davis for Broken Nose Theatre, a young, non-Equity theater company, was one of the hottest tickets in Chicago last winter. It's now back for a summer run at the Den Theatre in Wicker Park, a venue close to the dwelling place of many folks who would identify with these articulate, socially conscious characters. Can a man offer an opinion about abortion? Does being of mixed race alter your place in any argument? This show has my highest recommendation. Through Aug. 26 at the Den Theatre, 1333 N. Milwaukee Ave.; $30 or pay-what-you-can at brokennosetheatre.com

"Blue Man Group" has been playing at Briar Street since 1997, a remarkable run of 20 years. There have been only two major overhauls in that time; the latest adds selfie sticks, new music and a livelier finale. I'd argue the Blue Men need a bigger overhaul — they still chomp marshmallows, bang drums and paint up audience members — but this remains a fine gateway for the young into the arts. If you've never had the pleasure, go. Open run at the Briar Street Theatre, 3133 N. Halsted St.; $49-$69 at ticketmaster.com

If you want to understand how much one performance can mean in the theater, let me suggest a trip to see Kathy Voytko in "The Bridges of Madison County" at the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire. This 2013 musical (book by Marsha Norman and music by Jason Robert Brown) is based on the best-selling novel by Robert James Waller and tells the story of an Italian war bride from Iowa who spends a long, illicit weekend with a wandering photojournalist while her husband and kids are away at the state fair. For better or worse, what Norman and Brown most wanted to do with this piece was to take you inside Francesca's head, to help you understand the compromises we all make. Voytko is along for every mile of that particular ride through Winterset, Iowa in 1965. Through Aug. 13 at the Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire; $50-$60 at 847-634-0200 or marriotttheatre.com

"Fantastic Super Great Nation Numero Uno" is an inclusive and warmhearted new e.t.c. Theater show, directed by Ryan Bernier, that takes a broad view of the moment. There have been edgier revues on the e.t.c. stage, but this crew is so funny you worry some coastal talent-spotters soon will steal them away. Alan Linic plays a Cubs fans who slept through everything that has happened since. Katie Klein's old-school parody of affirmative women's daytime talk shows — "What's Up Girl?" — is probably the richest material of the night. Open run in Second City e.t.c. Theater in Piper's Alley, 1618 N. Wells St.; $19-$46 at 312-664-4032 or secondcity.com

Ever since its New York opening in 1977, D.L. Colburn's "The Gin Game" has attracted extraordinary actors. Now at Drury Lane, that means John Reeger and Paula Scrofano, two longtime stars of the Midwestern musical theater. They play residents of a down-at-heel retirement community, both feisty and witty people, who discover each other on the terrace. Director Ross Lehman's "Gin Game" ranges a little darker than most productions I've seen. You leave with the sense that none of this is really a game. Through Aug. 13 at the Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace; $42-$57 at 630-530-0111 or drurylanetheatre.com

In honor of the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love, “Hair, The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical” is now at the Mercury Theater in the Southport Corridor. Hello again, long-haired star-shines. Of all the local productions of “Hair” during the last decade, I think this one is my favorite, first and foremost because of the quality of the singing. Brenda Didier’s production is an Equity show stocked with Chicago talent. Liam Quealy, who plays Claude, fully understands this show — and for its quirks and dated tropes, “Hair” remains a remarkable work. Through Sept. 17 at the Mercury Theater, 3745 N. Southport Ave.; $30-$65 at 773-325-1700 or mercurytheaterchicago.com

This Broadway show has given Chicago a Chicago-style production. The heartland "Hamilton" is performed by players mostly younger and less experienced than the original New York cast and is less flashy. But it is more in touch with the fundamental scrappiness of the early years of a rebel colony turned into a spectacular democratic experiment. And in a city whose native theater is founded on truth, it is somehow very much more human and vulnerable. That Chicago-style sensibility is led by Miguel Cervantes, the superb actor in the title role. This is a company that deserves to be embraced. Open run at PrivateBank Theatre, 18 W. Monroe St.; $65-$400 at 800-775-2000 or broadwayinchicago.com

Steppenwolf may not have invented incendiary plays about the meltdown of a post-nuclear American family, but it sure has claimed the genre. So there is something deliciously inevitable about the arrival of Taylor Mac's "Hir," a richly complicated entertainment that, quite literally, vomits in the kitchen sink. This exceptionally canny and fascinating piece is an attempt to write the obituary for naturalistic, heteronormative plays. We're in a trash-infested, lower-middle-class California home owned by Arnold (Francis Guinan), a laid-off plumber who has suffered a debilitating stroke, his wife (Amy Morton), and their offspring Isaac (Ty Olwin) and Max/Maxine (Em Grosland), who is changing genders. "Hir" is a show with a complex point of view. Through Aug. 20 at Steppenwolf Theatre Company, 1650 N. Halsted St.; $20-$86 at 312-335-1650 or steppenwolf.org

In the 1960s, many of Chicago's Puerto Ricans lived on the western side of Lincoln Park. Sandra Delgado's hit "La Havana Madrid" is a heartfelt and fascinating musical tribute to those immigrants and the music, especially the salsa, that they brought to town. This new show, staged by Teatro Vista, is back for a new summer run at the Goodman Theatre; Delgado originally wrote it as part of the Goodman's Playwrights Unit. It's a celebration of a nightclub run by the music promoter Tony Quintana and what it meant to the community it served. Through Aug. 20 in the Goodman's Owen Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St.; $30-$50 at 312-443-3800 and goodmantheatre.org

Steep Theatre has been set up like a European cabaret, with little tables and shaded lamps. But rather than Sally Bowles, we are there to keep the company of Lela, a woman from a remote village near an unspecified war zone. The story she tells — through some unwelcome male interruptions — is utterly horrific, a first-person account of sex trafficking and manipulation. This play by the young British writer Cordelia Lynn is overwhelmingly intense in Steep's tiny room. Lela is played by the Chicago actress Cruz Gonzalez-Cadel, variously funny, charming, stoic and agonized. Her work here is extraordinarily empathetic. Through Sept. 2 at Steep Theatre, 1115 W. Berwyn Ave.; $25-$35 at 773-649-3186 or steeptheatre.com

Creator and director Daniele Finzi Pasca's "Luzia," which is superb, unlocks that latent Cirque du Soleil sensualism, an elusive quality. The theme is the cultural heritage of Mexico, and Pasca's conceit makes it feel as though the acts are flowing directly from the countryside, arising from family celebrations, rainforest exuberance, even the country's love of soccer, a discipline that requires only a ball to enthrall. The wet stuff is also very much a character in "Luzia," soaking trapeze artists and Cyr Wheel riders and Chinese pole specialists, and used to form a truly dazzling wall of rain. Through Sept. 3 at the United Center, 1901 W. Madison St.; $35-$195 at cirquedusoleil.com/Luzia

This superb adaptation and tightly woven script courses to the center of this myth's story while showing compassion for all those aboard the Pequod — and all those swimming below. Director David Catlin's exceptionally enjoyable and accessible "Moby-Dick" conveys the appeal of a life that contains actual, bona fide adventure. And it makes you think about your own white whale, whatever it is that haunts your dreams. That crucial emotional underpinning is what makes "Moby-Dick" rise to the short list of the great Lookingglass productions of the past two decades. Through Sept. 3 at Lookingglass Theatre in Water Tower Water Works, 821 N. Michigan Ave.; $45-$80 at 312-337-0665 or lookingglasstheatre.org

With "Spamilton," the savvy parodist Gerard Alessandrini ("Forbidden Broadway") has come roaring back in a Chicago production that delivers nonstop laughs to anyone with enough knowledge of "Hamilton" to get the gags. The famous "blue-collar/shining beacon/Puerto Rican" is played by Yando Lopez, an actor with a better vocal instrument than Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Eric Andrew Lewis blows out the room as Aaron Burr. It's a fair criticism to say that Alessandrini is perhaps too much in love with the real "Hamilton" to really skewer the show, but there's guaranteed fun here for Miranda obsessives. Open run at the Royal George Cabaret Theatre, 1641 N. Halsted St.; $59-$99 at 312-988-9000 or spamilton.com

I actually had a blast at this semiscripted affair that employs 23 actors to play members of the two feuding families joining in holy matrimony. Don't judge without going. Still, I wouldn't be recommending this thing if it were just like last time. The difference this time around is that the show begins in an actual Chicago church, where the congregants are to be commended for their sense of humor, and the scale and quality of the Chicago improv community (not all of whom are in the first blush of youth) have improved vastly in the years since I last saw this show. It's a rough, tough, divisive world out there. Here, everyone was having fun. Go in a group. Open run at Resurrection Church, 3309 N. Seminary Ave.; $75-$85 at 773-327-3778 or tonylovestina.com